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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Muslims bear the brunt of faulty scholarship schemes

Nasreen Banu, 29, was elated when her daughter’s name figured in the
list of the Centrally sponsored scholarships for pre-matric students for
the last two years running. This would have entitled her daughter
Nuzhat, now in class VII, to pay Rs. 1,000 per annum as tuition fees.
However, the 13-year-old is yet to receive the money.

Nasreen herself is struggling to pursue her own Bachelor’s degree in
Management Studies at a city college. Her annual fees amount to Rs.
21,000 and she has only managed to raise half that amount in the first
year. She has applied for the Central government’s post-matric
scholarship, but like others she is unsure of getting it. Her husband
works at a sweet shop and the funds are low. She has little option but
to take a loan to fund her studies.

Thus, Nasreen was forced to send her daughter to a school, a little far
away from her home, where she can afford the tuition fees. “Schools are
expensive and there are a lot of extra fees to be paid. The applications
are online and I don’t have an internet connection. It is very
difficult for us to fill out these forms without help,” she said.

Glitches galore

In 2008, the scholarship at pre-matric level was introduced to encourage
parents from minority communities to send their children to school.
However, while there has been an overwhelming response, every year
students have to put up with numerous glitches. This year the pre-matric
scholarship site stubbornly refused to open, the Students Islamic
Organisation’s (SIO) scholarships cell coordinator, Nadeem Rasoul,
pointed out to The Hindu. After several complaints the deadline
for applications was extended from August 31 to September 10, which
won’t solve the problem, since many schools don’t have access to the
internet. Filling out forms in internet cafés, too, takes ages and is of
no help to the students thronging the cafés with their parents.

Students belonging to Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsee
communities, who have not scored less than 50 per cent marks in the
previous final examination and whose parents-or-guardians earn not more
than Rs. 1 lakh, are eligible for the benefit.

Post-matric scholarships

However, it is the backward Muslim community which is having the biggest
problems. Mr. Rasoul says there are major issues with the post-matric
(from standard 11 till PhD) and the merit cum means (for professional
and technical courses) scholarships, as well. Mohammed Ali, an MA
student from a Pune college, said: “Last year I filled the form and
opened an account but I did not get the fellowship. More than 300
Economics students from the University of Pune did not make the cut. I
don’t know if I should apply this year, as it is very demotivating.”

There is confusion over the website where post-matric forms should be
filled and there is no space for full names. “My name has eleven letters
but the form has only space for nine,” said Ali. His father, a
shopkeeper in Mumbai, managed to raise Rs. 14,300 for a year’s fees plus
Rs. 1,500 for room rent. “The scholarship was worth Rs. 14,300 but I
didn’t get it. This year I may have to take a loan,” he added.

A second year student of air conditioning in a technical college, Abdul
Aziz unsuccessfully applied for a post-matric scholarship last year. His
father, a tailor, is already in debt for last year’s fees and is facing
difficulties paying for his son’s education. Again, this year the
website does not show the name of Aziz’s college and no one knows how to
apply. Last year only two students from his college got the scholarship
while 21 did not.

Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Arif Naseem Khan, besieged with
complaints regarding the pre-matric website and other issues, is
monitoring the matter on a daily basis. Nasreen Contractor, co-director,
Women’s Action and Research Group (WRAG), who has been informally
networking on the issue of scholarships, said: “It’s very piecemeal and
carelessly handled and there is no internal coordination. There must be
some way of ensuring accountability and transparency and at least a
helpdesk.”

Technology, a hassle

Technology is a hassle for the people for whom the scholarships are
meant, said Dr. Farrukh Waris, principal of Burhani College. Last year
the college created a special cell for helping students with these
scholarships and the result was disappointing — only one of the 31
students who applied was granted funds. This year the cell has been
scrapped. “Minorities are in desperate need of education and if only
this process could be simplified,” she said. Decentralising the funding
process and trusting colleges to do it would be a big step in increasing
administrative accountability and transparency, she pointed out.

The former vice-principal of Nirmala Niketan College of Social work,
Farida Lambay, demanded more scholarships for students. Reducing the
paper work and administrative hurdles, and creating a one window
approach would make life easier for students, she said.

Not reflecting reality

From 58,000 students in 2008-09, the numbers of Muslims from Maharashtra
who got pre-matric scholarships has swelled to 4.60 lakhs in 2011-12.
Last year Rs. 54 crores was spent on this scholarship scheme.

The number of those who availed of post-matric scholarships in 2011-12
went up to 31,733 from 5,169 in 2008-09. With students complaining that
they have not received the funds, these statistics may not give the real
picture. While the intentions behind the scholarships are noble, the
implementation is in a sorry state.